<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>one night may be forever, but that’s okay by enbyCrowing</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23424877">one night may be forever, but that’s okay</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/enbyCrowing/pseuds/enbyCrowing'>enbyCrowing</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Be More Quarantine Challenge Fics [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Camping, Multi, Trans Jeremy Heere, for the be more quarantine challenge on tumblr!, his mom split, michael’s a good friend, platonic boyfs but not really?, sad boi hrs for jeremy heere, the bois gotta talk, this is just angst lol, we need people plz consider joining</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 10:01:27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,307</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23424877</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/enbyCrowing/pseuds/enbyCrowing</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“I can’t keep pretending it’s fine.”</p><p>but maybe, he and Michael can make it alright, if only for a night.</p><p>title from something to believe in from newsies</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Christine Canigula/Brooke Lohst, Jake Dillinger/Jeremy Heere, Rich Goranski/Michael Mell</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Be More Quarantine Challenge Fics [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1685041</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>one night may be forever, but that’s okay</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>If you’d told Jeremy Alexander Heere eight months ago that he’d be piled into a van with his former childhood bully, his boyfriend, his formerly-ex-currently-current-but-not-best childhood friend, his ex-girlfriend-turned-awesome friend, and his ex-girlfriend-who-was-dating-his-other-ex, he’d probably have called you crazy and asked who the boyfriend was. But here he was, listening to musicals as Christine’s aunt’s old gray van rolled down a dirt road lined with trees. </p><p>     It gave Jeremy a sense of calm, even though the rest of the van was awake with chatter. There were super tall trees, shorter ones, and other foliage. He must’ve been spacing out for a while, because Jake nudged his boyfriend’s arm as they rolled to a stop. </p><p>     “You ok?” Jake asked, his voice smooth and calming for Jeremy. He  let out an involuntary sigh.<br/> “Just thinking about things.” came the reply from the shorter boy. Jake nodded as Jeremy opened the door. The only response to his delayed leaving the van was a confused head tilt from Brooke, but he shrugged it off, heading inside the cabin. As he caught Rich’s eye, the shorter boy looked away and Jeremy sighed. He knew that this was supposed to bring the “squad” together after everything, but Michael wouldn’t even look him in the eye. And from what he’d seen, it was the same for Rich and Jake. Jeremy tried to focus on the good, like that he was here with Jake and Brooke. Plus, his dad had been trying to get him out of the house for a while. Not that Michael and Rich hated him and that he’d ruined Brooke’s reputation with Chloe and Jenna and oh god.</p><p>Deep breaths, he thought. After a few deep breaths, he headed inside the cabin. Brooke was chatting with Christine and Michael had pulled out his Nintendo Switch and was talking about some inside joke with Rich. Whatever. Jeremy felt arms wrap around his waist and a gentle kiss planted on his head. He didn’t care that Rich’s eyes were obviously fixated on the back of his head as he turned around to smile at Jake. “Thank you so much for coming.” the brown haired teen told his boyfriend. Jake smiled. </p><p>“Of course, Jere.” “This is a good chance to reconnect with everyone, plus I always liked the outdoors.” the taller boy replied. Jeremy smiled. He honestly had no idea how he got so lucky with Jake. </p><p>After ten minutes of awkward silence sometimes interrupted by Michael quietly cursing at whatever he was playing, Christine bounced into the room with a smile, either oblivious to the tension or choosing to ignore it. </p><p>“Brooke started a campfire and I brought s’mores supplies!” she exclaimed. Jeremy closed whatever mindless time-waster he was playing on his phone and followed his boyfriend out of the cabin, and he happened to overhear Michael talking to Rich.</p><p>“Are you gonna be okay, Rich?”</p><p>That made Jeremy want to scream. He knew that he was being selfish and that Rich probably was scarred, both emotionally and physically, from the fire on Halloween, but Michael was talking like this wasn’t Rich’s fault and that he was the goddamn victim or something. </p><p>Jake seemed to notice and squeezed his arm. “Hey, don’t get upset.” “I know that you think that it was all Rich’s fault, but I really don’t blame him.” Jeremy scoffed.</p><p>“Well, I think it was, you know?” he snapped. “He set your goddamn house on fire, babe!”</p><p>Jake looked tired. “C’mon, don’t get so worked up.” “Let’s just hang out with our friends tonight and forget about everything awhile, yeah?” he said, attempting to reason with Jeremy. Jeremy looked up at him.</p><p>“I-i can’t just pretend it’s fine.” the brown-haired teen said dejectedly. “You go ahead, I need a minute alone.” Jeremy felt tears drip from his eyes as he ran off, not really knowing where he was going at this point. </p><p>He eventually found himself facing the lake, which gleamed in the moonlight. Despite himself, he smiled a little at the pretty reflection in the lake, clear and beautiful. </p><p>Jeremy had no idea how long he sat there, silent tears streaming down his face while he listened to music, feeling like an idiot for ditching his friends and boyfriend on the night that Christine had planned for all of them, including the dumbass who dumped her and made her feel like shit.</p><p>“She didn’t feel like shit.”</p><p>Jeremy jumped, turning his head so fast he must’ve gotten whiplash. He’d said that out loud? “What the hell are you doing here?”</p><p>Michael leaned against the fallen tree that Jeremy was at, folding his hands. “Looking for you.” “Chris was worried.”</p><p>Jeremy scoffed. “Why?” “She should hate me, honestly.” “I dumped her, then broke contact because I’m a fucking coward.” Hot tears flowed steadily now, blotchy red spots forming on his pale face.</p><p>Michael looked at Jeremy. “Jeremy, Christine was never mad at you.” he said, in a no shit sherlock tone. “She realized she was a lesbian and probably would’ve broken up with you anyway.”</p><p>“Oh.” The two stood there, looking out at the lake, not talking. Jeremy wiped at his eyes with the sleeve of his cardigan and Michael tapped the beat of some forgotten song on the worn bark of the fallen tree. Finally, Jeremy spoke up.</p><p>“It was Haunukah.”</p><p>“What was?” Michael asked.</p><p>“When Mom left.” Jeremy elaborated. “She gave me a pair of shitty socks, then flipped off my dad and left.” He laughed bitterly. “Guess who’s fucking fault that was.” </p><p>Michael looked at him, an unreadable expression on his face. “What do you think you did?” he asked. “I mean, it probably wasn’t your fau-”<br/>Jeremy cut him off. “She found my binder, and decided it was the final straw.” “Some shit about ‘raising a child wrong’ or whatever.” He glanced at Michael, who was fiddling with his hoodie strings subconsciously. “Are you even listening?”</p><p>“Sorry, it’s a habit.” the other teen apologized. “I think your mom was just a transphobic bitch, frankly.” he added. Jeremy looked off into the distance with a sigh.</p><p>“Yeah, you’re probably right.” he agreed. “Did anyone tell you what happened before we… met in Jake’s bathroom?”</p><p>It was Michael’s turn to laugh bitterly. “No, please enlighten me.” he answered, venom in his tone. Jeremy winced. Yeah, he deserved that. </p><p>“Chloe… basically tried to rape me.” he choked out. “The SQUIP wouldn’t let me move, but before she could do anything Jake interrupted.” Jeremy was full on sobbing now. “I-i was on edge and scared a-and I overreacted and-”</p><p>Michael hugged him suddenly. “Jesus, I didn’t know that.” “I’m sorry for always playing off your feelings and shit.” he added suddenly. “It took me awhile to realize that what I was doing hurt you so badly.”</p><p>He continued. “I don’t think I’ll ever be your ‘player one’ again, but we can be friends.” Michael’s voice was strained, and Jeremy could tell he was probably about to cry. “For the sake of our friends, and our boyfriends, who may I add are talking right now, can we be just buddies?” </p><p>For the first time that night, Jeremy smiled at Michael. “Yeah, that’s fair.” “Not besties like back then, but… amigos?” he held his hand out awkwardly for a handshake.</p><p>“Amigos, you weirdo.” Michael laughed. “Let’s go back before Christine goes full mom mode.”</p><p>The pair arrived back to Rich animatedly telling a story that Jake seemed to be listening to as he roasted a marshmallow for way too long. “You okay?” Jake asked, concern filling his eyes. “You kinda ran off.” </p><p>“Actually,” Jeremy began. “Better than usual.” He grinned at Michael, who awkwardly finger-gunned back, causing the two to burst into laughter. And for one night, Jeremy knew he could trust them all.</p><p>And maybe, for that night, that was enough.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Ok, so this is for the Be More Quarantine challenge on Tumblr, and it’s a whole lot of fun! We’re low on members, so please consider joining!</p><p>NOTE: this is also going to be on tumblr @zoes-dumb-writings. Don’t worry, it isn’t stolen!</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>